


Apology

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cheating, Dancer Allura (Voltron), Dancer Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Getting Back Together, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, Lesbian Allura (Voltron), M/M, Manager Shiro (Voltron), Minor Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Musician Keith (Voltron), Past Allura/Lance (Voltron), Past Drug Use, Past Relationship(s), Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-01-04 23:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21205673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith and Lance had dated for two years back in high school, and they weresohappy. Until that fateful night when Lance told Keith he'd had sex with Allura. After that, they'd broken up and had barely spoken for the rest of high school, and have barely seen each other since they graduated.Keith went on to be known as 'Akira Marmora', one of the most popular singers in America and Lance became... a struggling actor and dancer. One day, Keith shows up at Lance's dance studio so he can cast someone to play his ex-boyfriend in a music video.





	1. Chapter 1

Keith sighed as he plopped onto the couch in his living room, flicking open his laptop and grabbing his guitar. If he wanted to start filming this music video in two weeks, he'd need to finish the song first. Just as he started strumming chords on the guitar, Shiro, his manager and older brother, entered the room. He was already dressed while the musician on the couch was still wearing just his pajama pants.

Shiro was holding his tablet and tapped around on it for a bit before glancing up at Keith with one eyebrow raised. "What're you doing?" he asked.

Keith frowned and gestured to the guitar in his hands. "Finishing the song? I don't have anything to do today, right? And I had another dream about it. Seems like the perfect day to do it."

Biting his lip, Shiro flipped around the tablet to show Keith what he was looking at. It was his schedule, and today had a block from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It was labeled _Auditions - Altea Dance Studios_.

"Shit!" Keith yelped. A quick glance at the top bar of the tablet told him it was already 10:15. He jumped up, dropped his guitar on the couch, and sprinted to his room to get dressed.

* * *

Lance watched as the rest of the dancers left the studio. He stayed in the doorway to the studio, slowly eating the small lunch his mama had packed him. Most of the other dancers would run across the street to Zesty's to get lunch before rehearsal, but Lance's mama insisted that no child of hers would ever do such a thing. Even after they moved out. He wasn't complaining though. Having his lunch with him gave him time to relax and talk to Allura before rehearsal started.

Speaking of Allura, the woman was dancing around the studio, no doubt choreographing something for one of the younger classes. Judging by the song at least. Younger dancers always chose a song off the radio or that they thought was popular, which meant that this year there were a lot of songs by this new breakout artist, Akira Marmora.

Lance scowled as the soft, silky voice reached his ears. He swore he recognized it from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it. That, and the fact that a lot of Akira's songs hit way too close to home for him, meant that he didn't like the singer that much.

Also, what kind of name was _Akira_? And what singer refused to allow his own face to be in any of his videos? Was the guy secretly ugly or something? Or was he just shy?

Finally, the song ended and Allura unplugged her phone from the stereo, slipping in the _Nutcracker_ soundtrack CD instead. Panting slightly, she bounced over to Lance, a grin plastered across her face.

Lance smiled and leaned backwards a bit, placing his lunch on the bench outside the studio. "What's up, 'Llura?" he asked as he leaned back inside the studio.

"Do you remember Romelle?" Allura said.

Lance thought for a second before he placed the name, but snapped and nodded once he did. "Your girlfriend that you refuse to bring around to the studio? That had to find out you're a dance teacher on her own when she came to the Spring Show last year with her family? Yeah, I remember her." He smirked at the embarrassed expression on Allura's face.

"Yeah, that's her. Well..." She held up her left hand and Lance realized that there was something there that had not been there the day before. Specifically, a diamond ring that looked very expensive. "She proposed to me last night!" she squealed.

"No way!" Lance gasped. "Congrats Allura! When's the wedding?"

She hummed and shrugged, lowering her hand to her hip. "We're not quite sure. We know we want to wait until after the Dance Company season, but then she gets really busy over the summer so... I might end up taking at least _Nutcracker_ off of dance next year. Coran'll be happy to have full control again for the first time in a while, but I'd still want someone I trust to be assistant director." Smirking, she nudged Lance's shoulder. "You up for it?"

Lance grinned and nodded, pulling Allura into a hug. "Anything for you, Princess."

They heard the door slam and someone stomp up the stairs behind them. That was weird, the dancers usually didn't show up for another fifteen minutes at least.

Confused, Lance pulled away from Allura and peered around the door frame into the hallway to see who it was. He was greeted by a scowling face and...

Oh shit.

Lance knew that hair. He knew what it felt like to run his hands through it, and, though it was down now, he could vividly remember what it had looked like slicked back and tied up for their junior year homecoming dance. And he knew those eyes. They were harsh now, but he could still picture exactly what they'd looked like when they were soft and calming after he'd woken up to a nightmare. And he knew those hands. The way they were balled into fists now hadn't been uncommon then, but what his mind decided to go to was how the stupid gloves that were always over them had felt against his bare skin. And he knew those lips. He could almost feel how they'd felt on his, slotted against them, gentle at times, firm others, and harsh and needy still others.

He hadn't expected to see him for a very long time, probably not until their high school reunion. But here he was. The year after they both graduated college. At least, he assumed he'd gone to college. It seemed likely because of all the AP classes he'd taken in high school.

"Keith?" he asked, stepping away from Allura and towards the other man. God, did he have to sound so breathless? Yeah, he knew he wasn't over Keith. That he never would be. But _Keith_ didn't need to know that. They'd split on bad terms, and to save his sanity he wanted to keep it that way.

"Lance," Keith snapped. Okay, good, he didn't seem to catch on to how Lance had sounded. In fact, he barely payed Lance any attention as he stepped around him and towards Allura. "Sorry I'm early," he said, "You know how Shiro is." He didn't sound very sorry. He sounded almost the same as when he'd said Lance's name. Of course, he had every reason to sound so pissed at the both of them. Or he would've, if this was _five__ years ago_. Damn, Keith could hold a grudge.

Despite Keith's rude tone, Allura smiled sweetly and nodded. "It's no problem, Keith. In fact, it's probably better. Gives us more time to discuss before they get here. Come on, we can talk in Coran's office. He's down in the basement with the costume ladies."

Nodding, Keith followed Allura into the tiny, cramped office across the hall from the studio.

All Lance heard before the door swung shut was Allura saying, "Sorry it's so messy. You know Coran. So-"

Lance fell onto the bench, rested his head in his hands, and finally allowed the tears to prick at his eyes. God, he hadn't realized just how much he'd missed Keith. Had Keith missed him? Probably not, judging by the harshness in his tone. But why was he here now? And why did he still hold this dumb grudge? It had been an honest mistake!

Well, not so honest.

But he hadn't meant anything by it! Neither had Allura! She even came out as lesbian two days later! And it was four and a half years ago! So why was it still such a big deal to Keith?

That was how Coran found him when he bounded up the stairs ten minutes later; sitting on the bench, face buried in his hands, silent sobs racking his body, mind racing with thoughts of Keith and why Keith hated him so much.

"Well, I was going to ask you to come downstairs to try on your costume," the ginger said, "but now I'm thinking you need some cheering up. What's wrong, my boy?"

Scowling, Lance wiped his tears and looked up. "Well, it's definitely _not_ that my high school boyfriend that I still like and has only gotten hotter over the four years that I haven't seen him just _showed up_ on a random day at the _worst time ever_, while I was hugging the girl he thinks I cheated on him with, and is now in a confined space supposedly 'discussing' something with said girl." Whoa, had he said all that without breathing? Damn, his acting coach was going to kill him if she ever found out.

Coran raised his eyebrows, glanced at the calendar pinned to the cork board next to the stairs, and looked back at Lance, chuckling. "Yes, I told Allura we should've told you. Don't worry, this has nothing to do with you and is strictly business. Well, if you can call this business," he said thoughtfully.

"What is going on?!" Lance cried, shooting to his feet.

At that second the office door swung open, revealing Keith leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, smirk spread across his face. "Still as dramatic as you were back in high school, huh? Don't worry. You'll find out as soon as your rehearsal starts."

"And _why_ does everyone keep telling me not to worry? Why won't anyone tell me what's going on?! I think I deserve to know, considering you're _my_ ex-boyfriend and you just showed up randomly in my life, when I was ready to never see you again!" He was practically shrieking now, earning him some concerned looks from the dancers entering the studio. Unfortunately, they had to walk right through the conversation to get from the entrance staircase to the bathroom.

Keith's smirk fell into a scowl and he pushed himself off the door frame, taking a few threatening steps towards Lance. "I wasn't the one that cheated," he hissed.

And, okay, he was right... but not fully. Still, the force of what he said pushed Lance backwards onto the bench again and he re-positioned himself into the same stance he had been in before Coran came up the stairs.

"Keith!" Allura said happily. Good god, how was she so happy? She must not have heard what Keith said. "Why don't you take some tickets for the _Nutcracker_? It's the least we could do to thank you for this. Here, take two. One for you, and one for Shiro."

"Thanks Allura," Keith said, his voice monotone. Lance couldn't see, but he imagined he snatched them out of Allura's hand and stomped over to the white room and slammed the door. He could hear his feet and the door. With how hard Keith slammed it, he was surprised the window in the door didn't shatter.

Sighing, Lance stood and turned to Coran, glancing in the window of the white room. Keith had closed the blinds of the window facing the parking lot and was lounging on one of the couches, his phone on the glass table in the corner and a guitar in his lap. Wait, Keith had brought a _guitar_? Lance guessed he hadn't noticed with the excitement of seeing him again. The case lay open near the table and chairs in the corner opposite the glass table.

Lance sighed again and turned fully to Coran. "Alright, let's go try on my costume. I wanna get this over with so I don't have to see that stupid body suit for a week or two."

"Right-O," the ginger said, nodding. He turned on his heel and marched down the stairs into the basement costume shop, Lance listlessly trailing behind him.

* * *

By the time Coran and the costume ladies had stopped fussing over him and he was allowed to go back upstairs, the dance studio had filled up with dancers stretching, talking, changing, going over choreography, and just generally lounging around. There were a few guys, but it was mostly girls. The fourteen adults playing parents in the Party Scene had claimed Studio B, the smaller of the two studios, to practice their dances: the parents' dance, the waltz, and the wine dance.

Keith still had yet to come out of the white room, leaving many dancers confused as to who the cute stranger playing the guitar in their normal hang-out space was.

True to Dance Company norm rehearsal started late, Allura finally calling the dancers into Studio A at 11:15, when rehearsal was supposed to have started at 11:00. As usual, it started with a meeting around the piano and stereo. Junior Company through Soloist levels sat on the floor, Principal dancers were in the chairs next to the piano, adults leaned against the barre, and Allura and Coran leaned against the counter that the stereo sat on. Lance was a Principal, but he preferred to lean on the small outcrop of wall between the majority of the studio and where the stereo was.

Something was different about today's meeting though.

That something was Keith.

He stood next to Allura and Coran and was clearly inspecting almost all of the dancers sitting before him. His eyes landed on Lance for a second before he scoffed and looked away. His arms were crossed across his chest in a defensive stance and he'd leaned the guitar in its case against the counter next to him, separating him from the two directors.

"Hello everyone!" Allura said happily, clapping her hands together. Most of the dancers groaned, showing they clearly thought that even at eleven it was too early for Allura to be as cheery as she was. Lance almost agreed with them. "Well, we've hit the halfway mark, which means Sunday rehearsals will be starting tomorrow. But don't worry. You at least get an hour delay on Sundays. Remember, noon to three for Juniors and Ensemble, noon to four for everyone else. But Juniors and Ensemble do need to stay the whole time on Saturdays starting today. Pretty soon now we'll be getting Trigel and my father, Alfor, from the Voltron Dance Company to be our Clara and Prince." Everyone visibly perked up at that. They knew that they were getting dancers from Voltron to play those parts, it was a tradition. But Allura had yet to say who it was.

A hand shot up in the air and Allura nodded to them. Lance peered over the heads of the dancers to see who it was. A short girl with curly dirty blonde hair, the tips died red, wearing a Pikachu sweatshirt. Ensemble probably. "Uh, Miss Allura, if those are the dancers from Voltron, who's that?" she asked, pointing to Keith.

Allura grinned and nodded again, resting a hand on Keith's arm. "This, Erin, is Akira Marmora."

The studio was silent for a good ten seconds until one of the Principal dancers whispered, "Holy shit." That opened the flood gates. Shouts of surprise, awe, excitement, adoration, and everything in between filled the studio.

Whelp. That explained why Akira's voice sounded so familiar. And why so many of his songs hit so close to home, since Lance was just now realizing that most of them were probably about _him_. And why he went by Akira, since it was Keith's middle name. And Marmora, since that was his mom's maiden name. Honestly, Lance couldn't have cared less. Turned out he was the only one.

Keith stomped a foot and shouted, "Everyone shut up or I'm going to leave!" effectively shutting up all of the dancers in the room.

Allura winced as Keith shifted, revealing the black mark his combat boot had left on the dance floor. "Akira," she said, "I really wish you wouldn't wear your boots in the studio. Most of the time we don't allow any sort of street shoes at all."

"And what, wear my socks?" Keith asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I mean, it is more common than you'd think, _Akira_," Lance spat. He couldn't help himself from jumping in. "I could've always lent you a pair of dance shoes. Or would you have even taken them from a _cheater_?" This earned him plenty of confused looks from the dancers scattered around him. They were probably wondering why he seemed to personally hate someone so famous. As if he was ever going to tell them.

Allura cleared her throat, bringing the attention of all of the dancers back to her. "Yes, well, anyway. Akira is here because he wants to know if any of the teenage or young adult males in our company would like to play his ex-boyfriend in a music video. It requires both acting and dancing. He came here specifically because he lives close by, he knows we turn out some of the best double threats in the country, and, well, he and I went to high school together."

"And she owed me a favor," Keith said. He was addressing the whole company, but his eyes were trained specially on Lance. He winked and Keith scowled, tearing his eyes away. "So, anyone interested?"

Lance had to hold back a snarky response along the lines of _"What, couldn't get the real thing?"_

About five hands went up, a Soloist, two Principals, and the two college students playing dads.

Allura nodded and jotted down their names on a sheet of paper. "Perfect. Akira will be watching rehearsals today, tomorrow, and next weekend. He'll make his announcement at the end of rehearsal next Sunday." She handed Keith the paper and gestured for him to sit in the open seat along the wall. "Alright, set up for Act 1!"

The rest of the rehearsal was run mostly the same as usual, except for Keith asking Coran and Allura a question here or there. This was hard, since they were doing Act 1, the Party Scene, and Allura and Coran were both in that. There were some people who thought it might be a bad idea not to have a director watching at all, but the Party Scene only had to be taught to new Junior Company dancers, and Allura took care of that within the first month, so it was entirely memorized by October. Everything generally ran the same as a normal rehearsal.

Until the rats vs. soldiers fight scene.

Specifically, when Lance came onstage.

* * *

All of the rats except for two (who were fighting Clara in center stage) were kneeling around the side of the stage on stage left, and the Rat King stepped onto the stage on his toes, hands above his head. Just like the rest of the rats, he wore a giant "rat head" mask over his own head, which was kept on by several thick black ribbons tied around his chest that acted as a harness. Different from the rest of the rats, his head had a crown and he held a fake sword instead of an umbrella.

Keith scoffed as he realized that it was Lance under the mask. "The Rat King?" he asked, "Perfect role for a jerk like him."

At that, Lance dropped the sword and tugged his rat head off, scowling at Keith. "What's your problem?! Why the hell do you hate me so much?!" he cried, "It's been, like, four years! _I'm_ not the one that broke up with _you_!"

Keith leapt to his feet and stomped towards him, scowl mirroring Lance's. "Yeah, but you are the one that cheated in the first place, aren't you?" he growled.

Before Lance could respond, Keith turned on his heel and marched out of the studio. He got all the way outside before Allura caught up with him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to face her. 

"Keith, calm down!" she said.

"This was a terrible idea!" he shouted, "I _knew_ Lance danced here, I _knew_ I was going to see him, and I _knew_ I was going to still hate him! What I didn't know was that you two were still together! I don't care what you have to say. I'm not coming back to see another rehearsal. I already know who I want." No he didn't. He was just making an excuse. "I'll have Shiro e-mail you and then you can tell him yourself. Just get out of my sight." He glanced down at Allura's hand to yank it off of his wrist and noticed the ring she wore. "Oh, he's even proposed now, too! Good for you!" he said sarcastically, "Don't expect me to be at the wedding."

"Keith!" Allura snapped, strengthening her hold on his arm. "Just listen. That's not what happened and you know it. You've really hurt Lance. He still loves you, you know. He's had tree girlfriends through college and up until now. Every single one of them he compared to you, and said they weren't good enough. You're all he wants in a partner. And you still love him. I can tell. You wouldn't act this way unless you didn't. And this?" She finally let go of Keith's arm and held up her hand, gesturing to her ring. "This is from my future _wife_, Romelle. Keith, I'm a _lesbian_. Lance and I never dated. It was just that one time, and neither of us even wanted to do it. We were pressured by the other kids at the party because they thought _we_ were secretly dating. Lance wanted so desperately to keep _your_ relationship a secret, he went along with it. And I let him. If I'd have known how long the consequences would last, I would've stopped him. But I didn't. So don't blame Lance. Blame those unnamed kids at the party that we barely remember. Hell, blame me! I already knew I was lesbian and that I wasn't going to enjoy it... where was I going with this?" she muttered the last bit to herself.

Keith stared at the woman, jaw dropped. He hadn't known any of that. All he'd known was that Lance had gone to a part that Keith had told him not to go to, gotten drunk, and had sex with Allura. None of this shit about peer pressure had ever reached his ears. Of course, that was largely his fault. When Lance had told him, he hadn't let him explain before he ended their relationship and stormed off, and anytime anyone brought it up afterwards, he changed the subject or blocked out the conversation entirely.

Now though, he wanted to listen.

Unfortunately, Allura was done talking. She must have taken his unresponsiveness as him not wanting her to continue. She huffed and turned around to go back into the studio.

Keith bit his lip as he turned to his car and slipped inside. He wondered if Allura had been telling the truth. Knowing her, she was. He'd have to talk to Lance.

He pulled out of the parking lot and started the five minute drive back to his house, realizing too late that he'd left his guitar at the studio. Oh well. He'd get it next week.

As he pulled up to a red light, he glanced at the list of dancers Allura had given him and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it in the backseat. He knew who he wanted to play his ex-boyfriend in his music video.

He was going to get the real thing.

* * *

Lance was genuinely surprised when Keith showed up to Sunday rehearsal the next weekend. Sure, he knew that he was supposed to be coming back to announce who was going to be in the video, but with the way he'd stormed out on Saturday the week before, he'd assumed that had been scrapped.

Keith walked into the studio and made a beeline for Allura. Once he got her attention, he whispered something into her ear. She raised an eyebrow at him and quickly glanced at Lance. Nodding, she took Keith's arm and guided him into Coran's office.

They came out just as Coran was starting rehearsal five minutes later, Allura marching into the studio with a smirk on her face, Keith trailing behind, hunched over and looking exasperated and annoyed.

"Everyone!" Allura called, gaining all of the dancers' attention. "Akira has chosen the dancer he wants to be in his music video. Akira?" She turned to Keith, the smirk only spreading into a grin as she handed him the floor.

Keith sighed and straightened himself up, clearing his throat. "I know that there were five of you here that wanted the part. While I did enjoy watching you five dance, and think I would probably enjoy dancing with each of you, I am said to say none of you are going to be playing my ex-boyfriend."

Lance, who had pulled out his phone as soon as they walked in the room, glanced up as Keith said that, a frown on his face. All of the guys that auditioned were really good, some of their best. Why hadn't Keith chosen one of them? Had he found another studio with a better dancer? If he had, Lance was going to kill him for Allura's sake.

"What the hell?!" the Soloist who'd auditioned cried. The other four started complaining and making a commotion too.

Keith raised his hand for them to calm down. "I hope you all understand when I tell you why. I'm honestly surprised nobody figured it out. My _actual_ex-boyfriend is here, right now. He's one of you dancers. Not one of the five that auditioned, but he is in the company. Lance McClain, would you like the part?" The whole time he spoke, he made eye contact with Lance.

Which was only broken as several shouts of "I told you!" crossed the studio.

Lance scowled and pushed himself off the wall, stowing his phone back in the pocket of his sweatpants. "The fuck do you think you're doing, Ko- ahem, _Marmora_?" he growled. Normally he wouldn't have let himself swear in front of so many kids, but he was willing to make an exception in this situation.

Keith sighed and took a step towards Lance, into the crowd of dancers on the floor. "Lance, Allura told me what happened. And I am _so, so _sorry. I should've listened to you. I just didn't want to hear anything, because I thought anything you had to say would make it worse. I honestly had _no idea_ what really went down at that dumb party. Now I do. And I am _so __sorry_. She also told me that... " Good Lord, was Keith _blushing_? What the fuck? Keith chuckled and bit his lip, looking up at Lance through his lashes. "Well, she told me that you still loved me. And helped me realize that I still love you. So I'm offering you the part. Both because I think you would genuinely be good in it, and because I want to get to know you again. See if maybe we could get back together someday."

"Keith... " Good Lord, was he _crying_? Shit, he hadn't cried over Keith since he broke up with Plaxum. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, walking around the group of dancers to stand in front of Keith. "You stupid, mullet-haired, emo idiot. Of course I'll take the part. And of course I want to get back together with you someday." Before Keith could say anything, Lance took another step forward and closed the distance, wrapping his arms around Keith's shoulders and slotting their lips together. As if on instinct, Keith responded and wrapped his own arms around Lance's waist. After a second, Lance gently pulled away and rested their foreheads together. "Maybe that day could be today?"

Keith smiled sheepishly and whispered, "Please?"

Instead of saying anything, Lance leaned forward again and the two kissed for a second time, this time to the deafening applause of the dancers.

Lance was so glad Keith had re-entered his life.


	2. Hallo

So... for those of you that read the comments, I did say that there was going to be more of this. But only kinda. It’s really just a version of this that takes place over a longer time. 

_ [The Truth Will Come Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239306) _

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, anyone recognize the studio I described? It's based on Shirley Van's Dance Studio. If you dance there, and you're currently in the Nutcracker, BREAK A LEG!!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH I COULD JOIN YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO GLAD JAMIE IS FINALLY GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Hi Erin ;)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Truth Will Come Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239306) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account)


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